Set in Abruzzo – please help me find this book

You can cover a great deal of country in books. ~ Andrew Lang (1844 – 1912)

I’m looking for a book. It is called Belloccia: A Hill Village in the Abruzzo by Gimi Jordan. I’ve never seen it. I can’t find it for sale online and I have failed to find it after trawling though several library databases. I’m now hoping that readers of this blog, its Facebook fans and Twitter followers might help me find it.

I’m certain it exists. I’ve seen many references to it. Unfortunately the reference is usually “currently unavailable”, “we don’t know when or if this item will be back in stock” or “out of print”.

I can’t find much of a description of the book, certainly no detailed reviews. I did find a reference on the Books about Abruzzo page of A House in Pennewebsite which says that it is set north of Pescara, and is more about the village and the characters of the village than the author’s experiences there. That’s enough for me, I want to read it!

I’ve tried the standard sites like Amazon, the sites more focused on out of print books like Abe Books and the entire online catalogue of the Irish public library system – no joy. If somebody’s selling this book, they’re not shouting about it.

Last night I sent an email to a Norwegian online book seller that may have it. The email was in English to a seller that may only speak Norwegian about a book set in Italy that they probably don’t have!

This may take some time, but I’m not going to give up on finding it just yet. So if you have a copy and want to sell it, if you see it somewhere or if you have any suggestions that may help me find it, please get in touch by leaving a comment.

Why do I want it? I love reading and there are very few books in English that are either set in Abruzzo or are about Abruzzo.

To date I’ve read the following:

• The Miracle of Castel di Sangro by Joe McGinniss
• On the Spine of Italy: A Year in the Abbruzzi by Harry Clifton
• Fontamara, Bread and Wine from The Abruzzo Trilogy: v. 1-3by Ignazio Silone

and I have cooked using recipes from

• Food and Memories of Abruzzo: Italy’s Pastoral Landby Anna Teresa Callen

I spend a lot of time in Abruzzo. But I don’t spend anywhere near as much time there as I’d like to. So while I’m based in a differently beautiful and certainly colder European country I like to dip into those things that can transport me back to the Majella and the Gran Sasso.

Writing this blog, buying the odd bottle of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and cooking with peperoncino all help. But reading another book set in the region would be an absolute treat.

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3. Abruzzo in print Before I had the opportunity to spend significant time in...